Furbs wrote:
I think the flag is slowly coming round to being accepted again. Certainly when the major sporting events are on it seems alot more acceptable to have St Georges hanging out your window.

If more public buildings put the flag up, it would be a huge step forward in reclaiming it. And whilst I used to hate the idea, given the way "recent events" seem to be panning out, I'd be quite happy to support a pledge of allegiance to the country (not the monarchy!) for school kids once a week or so like in the States.

@Furbs
Ye see this gets back to what I was originally getting at what country and what flag. You seem to talk about the UK as being England which is totally wrong and as I said I am not sure but wouldn't it be treason or something?

Might have got the wrong end of the stick Furbs it was all the references to England.

Oh and on the Northern Irish thing it's St. Patrick.

On the treason thing your head of state is The Queen and I am sure she would not be very impressed with the English, Scots, Welsh, and Northern Irish all pledging allegiance to their own respective flags. You are afterall subjects of the Crown. Hence the reference to treason. I am only guessing though. (sorry, Irish ignorance mode here)

Nope constitutionality has nothing to do with it. National anthems are one thing but the original point was about alliegence.
[edit #2 make up yer mind DB ] AFAIK you cannot have an alliegence to both your country and the Crown one precludes the other.

I've always seen the swearing allegance to the flag thing in the states as one of their more dubious habits. Wouldn't want to see it here, personally. Just as many of us don't want to see children obliged to pray to God in schools, I don't want to see them obliged to make obeisance to a flag, either.

I have a problem with the whole 'being proud of ones country' thing. We should be proud of it when as a collective, we have done things honourably, decently, bravely. When we have acted otherwise, we should be critical. The problem with the oath-taking in school and we can see this /very/ clearly in the states, is that it encourages the attitude that any critisism is somehow treachery.

To be proud of a patch of dirt, or a people just because they're /there/ is utter nonsense. If we want our children to be proud of being British, we must act in a manner deserving of it and if we do, it is not just our children who will respect our nation.

Bit of trivia for you: It's only called the Union Jack when it's on a boat. The rest of the time, it's called the Union Flag. So I'm told. And despite the fact the news story is really old, I don't really like it. Not quite sure how race comes into even. It's not exactly subtle is it?

It's name is derived from the use of the word 'jack' as a diminutive. This word was in used to describe a small flag flown from the small mast mounted on the bowsprit of a ship in the 16th century. By the 17th a small version of the Union flag was flown in the position and was called the Jack, Jack Flag, or the Kings Jack. By mid 17th it was commonly referred to as the Union Jack.

Furbs wrote:
Yeah its one of the things I really admire about the Canadians. They are nation of migrants (with apologies to any Native American and Innuits who might be reading) but they are really proud of their flag and it is used to give everyone a shared identity or something in common. Not saying you have cultural harmony over there, but it was nice to see people take pride in who they were without being jingostic.

I thought they put it on display so people don't confuse them with Americans